How to Get a Marble Look When Painting a Wall

Paint and glaze create complex faux marble walls.

A genuine marble wall in a home entails not only major expense, but a major remodel. Rather than undergoing such an extreme project, repainting a wall in a faux marble finish results in that classy marble look at a fraction of the cost. The beauty of learning how to faux marble paint is that you can create the look of a specific marble variety you like, or tweak the technique to come up with your own unique marble colors. The possibilities are limitless.

Basic Technique

A basic marble faux finishing technique -- standard white marble with gray and black veins -- is beneficial to learn regardless of what type of marble you wish to recreate with paint. The look begins with a primed and painted latex white wall and a paint tray with gray latex glaze in it. The glaze is simply a little gray paint with glaze mixed in, based on proportions recommended on the glaze container. The more glaze, the more translucent the finish. Blot the gray onto the wall to create bands of cloudy gray areas, then smooth some of that out with a dry feathering brush or another sponge dipped in white paint. A brush creates thick gray squiggly bands of paint for added realism. A feather dipped in gray or black creates fine veins, which can be softened by blotting with a sponge or rag. The feather, or a fine artist's brush if you don't have one, is key to the marble vein look.

Layers of Color

Not all marble is black and white; many beautiful varieties don't contain plain black or plain white tints at all. Pinks and tans are common to Italian marble used in sculpture and as tiles. To recreate the complexity of multicolored marble, note the colors in a marble variety that you like, and pick three or four paint colors based on the true marble. Apply one of the middle shades as your base coat color. When that's dry, pour a pool of each paint color into a large tray, dipping a sea sponge into one of the darker colors. Blot that color on, then some of the lighter shades, using the same sponge. The multiple paints on the sponge will create the multiple shades in the marble. Add veins with a feather, mimicking the vein color of the genuine marble.

Fantasy Marble

Fantasy marble itself is a faux marble, made from resins, metallic tints and additives in virtually any color combination. Fantasy marble has the visual depth of an exotic polished marble, which transfers well to a faux painting technique. The fantasy marbling technique involves layers of deep colors applied atop one another while wet. Instead of blotting them all on with a sea sponge, a sponge or brush is smeared atop a layer of another color, resulting in unusual color bands. Metallic tints in some of the layers, as well as a little extra glaze mixed into the paint, create visual depth. Thin veins aren't typical to fantasy marble, so the feather step is skipped.

Reverse Marble

A reverse marble faux finish features dark faux stone with brightly colored light or white veins, resulting in a visually striking finish. The technique is similar to the basic marbling technique, except a dark base coat goes on first -- for instance, black as the base rock color with white and light green bands and veins running throughout. A little glaze mixed in with the light paints gives the faux stone an additional appearance of depth. This technique also works with out-of-the-ordinary colors, such as dark purple, indigo or forest green as the base shade.

About the Author

Kathy Adams won several investigative journalism awards from the Associated Press. Adams has ghostwritten several books and content for A-list musicians' websites. She is equally at home repurposing furniture and found objects into art as she is managing bands and community gardening efforts, running non-profit organizations and writing about healthy alternatives to household chemicals.